The project in Macau’s increasingly popular Cotai area is
expected to cost HK$25 billion to construct, higher than an
earlier estimate of HK$20 billion, Chief Executive Officer
Ambrose So said at a media briefing in the world’s gambling hub
yesterday.

SJM, founded by gambling mogul Stanley Ho, pushes to catch
up with rivals including Sands China Ltd. and Galaxy
Entertainment Group Ltd. in expanding on Cotai, the Asian
equivalent of the Las Vegas Strip. While SJM runs 20 out of the
35 casinos in Macau, it has none in Cotai.

The new casino resort will include a luxury hotel that SJM
is developing with Italian fashion house Gianni Versace SpA. The
five-star Palazzo Versace hotel will have as many as 270 rooms
and is slated to open in 2017. Construction will begin in the
next few months.

The Hong Kong-listed casino company is also considering
buying land in Hengqin, an island next to Macau, So said
yesterday. Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., the property company also
founded by Ho, earlier this year said it won a bid for a site in
Hengqin and plans to build a hotel-to-office complex there.
China designated Hengqin as a tourism, business and cultural
zone, and a resort is under construction in the area, Shun Tak
said then.

In May, SJM became the last of Macau’s six casino operators
to receive government approval to develop a Cotai resort. The
project, which will be built on a 70,500-square-meter site, will
feature up to 700 gambling tables and 1,000 slot machines.

Other casino operators are also expanding on Cotai. MGM
China’s $2.6 billion Cotai resort broke ground in February and
is set to open by mid-2016. Sands is investing in building its
fifth resort, to be called the Parisian, in Macau.